


these streets are paved with fantasies

by somebody_im_not



Series: there's two sides to every story [1]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Game: Resident Evil 2 Remake (2019), Gen, how do i explain this, its like claire a run but instead of claire its leon, leon and sherry father-daughter bonding, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24957298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somebody_im_not/pseuds/somebody_im_not
Summary: “Leon, thank you for being so nice to me. And helping me. I’m really glad I met you.”“I’m really glad I met you too, Sherry.”---A re-telling of Claire (1st run) but as Leon.
Relationships: Sherry Birkin & Leon S. Kennedy
Series: there's two sides to every story [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806331
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	these streets are paved with fantasies

**Author's Note:**

> me: let's write an re2 fic  
> brain: like your wip?  
> me: no. it's gonna be a claire run  
> brain: like your wip??  
> me: no. leon's gonna be in it  
> brain: like your wip???  
> me:  
> me: no  
> \---  
> dumb fic time :)

_“Leon, thank you for being so nice to me. And helping me. I’m really glad I met you.”_

_“I’m really glad I met you too, Sherry.”_

_***_

This was not how Leon expected his first day to be. He had been told to stay away but he hadn’t expecting the whole city to literally be…a zombie apocalypse. That’s what he had been caught up in. A goddamn zombie apocalypse. He exhaled softly, the perils of the night finally catching up with him.

His body had been running on straight adrenaline and he guessed that would probably be how the whole night would go. At least, there was a slight moment of calm now. He was underneath the police station and walking through some kind of underground facility.

He wasn’t going to think of Marvin.

The fact that there seemed to be no enemies around messed with Leon. He had gotten so used to the zombies and the…the creepy, disgusting Lickers that now a moment of calm with absolutely no enemies around wasn’t sitting well with him. His hands were jittering.

He inhaled again to calm himself back down. No enemies being around was a _good_ thing. He didn’t have to be on edge the whole time.

His journey through the facility led him onto a narrow walkway, where he could see the sprawling expanse of machinery and generators on the floor below. It looked winding and messy and he hoped he wouldn’t have to end up down there. He followed the walkway until he reached a fallen locker, blocking his progress into the next room.

As soon as he put his hands on it to heave it back up, he heard a little scuttle in the room. It was too soft to be any of the monsters he’d seen so far. He instead ducked down to look in through the little hole formed by the crashed locker.

Again, he heard a soft squeak and this time, he saw a bright flash of a plaid blue shirt. He didn’t think this was an enemy. It couldn’t be. He pulled out his flashlight from his belt and shone it into the darkness of the room, punctuating it with the dim glow. He steeled himself before whispering, “Hello?”

In the corner of the flashlight’s weak light, he could see just the smallest hint of a living human being hiding behind the locker, small sneakers squatting on the ground. They couldn’t be an infected. In fact, they hardly looked older than a child. _Huh_ , how had a child gotten down here?

He put on a calm voice, way calmer than he felt in the moment and continued talking. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. You can come out.”

The child, who Leon could now see was a girl, looked out of her little hidey-hole almost fearfully and looked at him. He turned his flashlight to the side so as not to blind her and said, “Come on. It’s okay.”

The girl seemed to be readying herself to do something and Leon kept quiet. He didn’t want to prod too much and scare her into silence. How had she ended up here?

She crawled closer but didn’t make any attempt to get to his side. He just kept waiting. He knew patience was important when interacting with kids.

Her face suddenly went white and she seemed to be looking right through him. She moved her mouth but no words came out. What…what was happening? He spoke, “What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath and this time Leon could somewhat hear her. “You…need help.”

His eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”

She pointed to a space behind him and muttered, loud enough that he could hear. “He’s right behind you.” At that exact moment, he heard the clanging of metal and a loud, echoing roar sound out from behind him.

He stood up and turned around, entirely unprepared for what he was going to encounter. It was a man, but also not one. There was a giant, festering lump of…of meat, for lack of a better term, growing on one of his shoulders and he could swear he’d seen a bulging, red eye blink in the mass. His body looked unnatural, as if the human part of him was what didn’t belong on the body.

Without an announcement, while Leon still stood in shock, the creature rushed him, and pounded him towards the metal grate they were both standing on. It let up, only to slam him back into it. His ribs and body ached in protest as he was once again pounded into the walkway, the metal creaking under him. His head blanked for a moment, the pain too much for him to handle. It suddenly gave way, both he and the…the man falling into the room Leon had wished he wouldn’t end up in.

He allowed himself only a moment of rest before getting up and moving back from the man’s reach, disregarding his body’s desire to lay on the floor. He pulled out Matilda, his faithful gun through all of this, and got ready. And he hoped with all his heart that the small girl upstairs wasn’t watching this fight and had found a safe place to escape to before all his thoughts were replaced with the need to survive with the pull of Matilda’s trigger and the yell of pain from the monster in front of him.

***

One final shot and the man yelled out, the distorted voice ingraining itself in Leon’s head. This time, it stumbled back, holding its giant, bulging eye and crying out. He watched in cold anger as it continued back and banged against a handrail. After what felt like eternity, it toppled over the rail and fell into the darkness below.

Leon ran up to it and looked over the edge. He could neither hear nor see the thing anymore. _Good_ , he thought with a cruel vindication, something feral in him happy at the prospect. Now, how was he going to get out of here? He had been all over this arena when fighting it and he hadn’t seen a way out. Except that ladder that was still put up. If only someone could let it down.

He didn’t want to think the kid was still hanging around here but what other choice did he have? Cautiously, he called out, half not expecting a response. “Hello? Kid? Are you still here?”

He heard her before he saw her. A shy, timid voice actually replied. “Is it…is it over?”

He thought he could hear a slight tremble in her voice. He gave her the response he wanted to believe. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s over. You can come out now.”

This time, she sidled up to the handrail near the ladder and now Leon could actually see the girl. She looked to be only about 10 years old, something which tugged at his heartstrings. No child should have to go through something like…like this. She had blond hair and was wearing a plaid shirt and some shorts. He noticed her eyes. Even though the room was dark and he could hardly see them, they still shone a fearful blue, piercing through the darkness of the room.

She whispered, “Are you sure?”

Leon assured her, “Yes, I promise. Can you lower the ladder for me?”

The girl looked at him straight in the eye. “Will you help me find my mom?”

Leon’s eyebrows raised. “Is she down here somewhere too?”

The girl said, “I…I think so. I don’t know where else she could be.”

He thought for a moment. He didn’t need much time to think. “Yeah. I’ll help you. Can you push down the ladder?”

The girl smiled. His heart melted. He climbed the ladder and joined her on top. They slowly made their way up through the facility making small talk. But first, “My name is Leon. What’s yours?”

She looked hesitant at first but she spilled it a second later. “Sherry.”

“Nice to meet you, Sherry.”

***

He learnt a lot about Sherry. Both her parents worked for Umbrella, making an important new medicine. She hadn’t seen her mother in a while and Leon promised her that they would find her. Her dad was ‘gone’ and he didn’t know if that meant he was dead or if he was missing, but he knew it was probably too insensitive to ask.

At the end of the underground facility, he climbed up a handy ladder at the end and pushed off a manhole to look through. Huh, they were in the parking garage. Did he really have to go through all of that just for the garage?

Never mind. He pushed the manhole off fully and pulled himself up onto the tarmac. He motioned for Sherry to follow him up as well and helped her up.

She looked around at their dingy surroundings and then finally pointed at the shutters at the far end. She looked up at him and asked, “Do you think we can get out?”

He nodded at her and they walked to the shutters. He messed around with the ticket booth next to it and realised immediately that they needed a key card to get out. He turned to Sherry, who was still anxiously looking outside. He asked her, “Are you sure this is the way?”

She nodded excitedly. “Yep! At least, this is how my mom took me.”

“Okay. I have an idea; stand back.” But before he could try lifting the shutters by himself, a gruff voice called out.

“Sherry?” He instinctively moved in front of her, shielding her from view. It continued, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Sherry. Brave little girl to leave your house in the middle of this mess.”

As he talked, the man moved forward until Leon could see him. He vaguely remembered him from pictures he’d seen in manuals. It was…his Chief? “Chief Irons?”

He was sure the man had to be him. He looked him up and down, noticing the large ‘R.P.D.’ emblazoned on his police uniform. His eyebrows shot up. “And who are you?”

“Officer Leon Scott Kennedy, sir. I was supposed to join up a week ago but I was told to stay away.”

“So, you’re the rookie. I see. Hand Sherry over to me.”

Sherry was still behind him and she clutched onto his arm. He could feel her trembling behind him. What had the Chief done that could frighten Sherry to this degree? He said what he felt was right in that moment. “No offence, Chief, but what good would that do? Wouldn’t the best course of action be to simply escape the station and help her along the way? She’s just a civilian.”

The Chief’s eyebrows furrowed in anger. “I’m giving you an order, _Officer_. Give me the girl.”

He stood his ground. What was so important about Sherry to the Chief? After a pause where none of them moved, suddenly the Chief pulled a revolver on him. He was too dumbstruck to even curse himself for not pulling Matilda out earlier or something.

Irons’ face had turned all-business and he spat out, “Hands up. Get on the ground.”

Why was it always him? He stayed standing a moment too late in the Chief’s eyes and a warning shot rang out, smashing the windshield of a police cruiser. The revolver moved back to stare into his face and Leon sank down to the ground. What else could he do?

The Chief pulled out a zip tie from a pocket – god, why did he have one of those on him? – and walked over to Leon. Sherry had already moved further away, keeping her distance. _Thank goodness for small miracles_ , he thought.

He pulled Matilda out of her holster and sent her spinning to the side. He didn’t bother with the shotgun. He knew Leon wouldn’t be able to pick it up fast enough to shoot him. He grabbed his wrists harshly and tied them together. Jesus, this wasn’t how he thought his damn police chief would be like.

When he got back up, he went to the key card slot. He slipped in one and the shutter started its ascent. Damn it, if only he could have gotten Sherry and gotten the two of them out before the Chief could come for them.

He couldn’t help it. He had to know. “Why are you doing this?”

The Chief’s gruff voice answered. “None of your damn business.” Then, to Sherry, he said, “Come here.”

Sherry stayed where she was, coincidentally much further back behind him. Again, she stayed put. A second too late, the revolver was back in his face. “Come with me, or I’ll kill him.”

Oh fuck. No way would he let Sherry end up in his hands. Sherry jumped from behind him to his side, arms out to stop Irons from shooting him the best way she could think of.

Her frightened voice spoke up and Leon could tell she was mustering her courage. “Okay, okay! Just don’t hurt him. You better be taking me to my mom!”

He put the gun up and shrugged, saying a complete lie. “Definitely.”

Leon spoke up for the first time in some minutes. “Don’t listen to him. He’s lying.”

The Chief kicked him in the gut in response and the wind was knocked out of him. He almost fell over from the shock of the kick but he steadied himself with his hands before he could. Through the unbidden tears in his eyes, he could see the Chief grab Sherry by the forearm and pull her forcibly through the now open shutter.

She was resisting and that was what made Leon’s vision go red. Even though, he was still hacking from the wind being knocked out of him, all he knew was that he had to get back to Sherry. He looked around and thanked the lucky stars that there just happened to be a shard of glass from the broken windshield right in front of him.

He wiggled over to it as fast as his spasming diaphragm would let him, while he kept looking apprehensively at Sherry. Irons was still pulling her out, which meant Leon still had time. He started working on the shard to break out of the zip tie.

Fuck, the shutters were coming back down. He tried to tune out the Chief so he could focus on getting the tie off but Sherry’s pained cries kept breaking through and he ripped against the zip tie harder.

Finally, he broke it. He ran for the shutters, without even reaching for Matilda, but he knew it was too late. The shutters were closing too fast and Sherry was too far away. He stopped just short of them, falling in his way.

In a fit of anger, he kicked the shutters that had closed too fast. He needed to find a damn key card to get out. That were stopping him from getting back to Sherry. He sighed and looked to the ground to look for Matilda when he noticed something he hadn’t seen just now. It was a little pendant. It must’ve been Sherry’s, dropped in the scuffle.

He pocketed it, promising he’d give it back to her when he got her back. “I’m coming, Sherry. I’m coming.”

Now, he just needed a key card.

***

Turning the lever on the water valve, he sighed. This was such a convoluted, messed up way to get Sherry back. He’d probably wasted so much time already, despite not having a watch on him nor having the courage to look at the clocks adorning the many offices.

At least now we could get back into the police station. He remembered at least one more door locked with the heart emblem on it and hopefully he could use whatever he found in that room to get to the clocktower. It was one _big_ ‘if’ though. If his entire progress was impeded by just not having a necessary key to enter a certain room, he would be monumentally pissed.

He hadn’t known Sherry for very long. Hell, it had probably only been 10 minutes. 10 short, sweet minutes where they talked for a while. He only knew the bare essentials about her. And yet, he was so intensely willing to throw himself back into hell, not just to get out of the police station but to find her, wherever she was in the city.

He made his way back up the stairs and at the top pulled the lever, dousing the helicopter wreathed in flames with a steady stream of water. After a moment, the flames were put out. Now, he could get back into the police station. He hadn’t fully worked out all the kinks yet – was he going to crawl through the wreckage? – but at least now he was one step closer to getting into the precinct.

He walked into the door and immediately a crawling sensation ran through him. He saw what it was almost immediately as he rounded the corner to look at the site of the crash.

By that, he meant he saw a giant hand grip the side of the broken helicopter and push it to the side as it stood at its full 8-foot height. It stood almost like a human and if Leon was far away, he could see that. But, its grey, wrinkled skin and its trench coat and fedora made him realise it definitely wasn’t another friendly survivor.

He bit out, “Stand back!” but the monster, he was sure of that much at least, did not, as he’d hoped, stay in place. Instead, it walked forward menacingly.

He stood shocked in place for a second but then his mind raced faster than his body worked. _Get the fuck out!_ was the only thought running through his mind as he ended up luring it out onto the roof and running past it back into the precinct where he knew he would be followed the whole time he was in there.

***

He put both the electrical components into the wall. After fiddling with the wires for a while, he finally managed to direct power into the cell door and finally get out of the parking garage and get to Sherry.

He noted a white phone sitting innocently on a desk as he entered the small jail cell. As he reached for the key card hanging off of a hat rack, the phone suddenly rang. _Not so innocent_ , he thought sourly. There had to be someone watching him for it to realise his presence so fast. He looked around quizzically but couldn’t spot anything that was innocuous enough.

After a second, he reached down and picked up the phone. He put on a brave tone and face and into the receiver, said, “Hello?”

The Chief’s gruff, deep voice responded. “Officer Kennedy. We have unfinished business.”

He had to rein himself in. Instead of yelling at Irons like he wanted, he reduced the words to a bark of anger. “What have you done with Sherry?”

“That’s none of your concern. Her death might be, though.”

Leon sucked in a breath so hard he thought his throat might have constricted. “W-what?”

“So, you understand me. Now, bring me the pendant or I _will_ kill her.”

He put his hand in one of the hip pouches on him, the one he knew had the pendant in it and looked over it. It didn’t look like much, a simple pendant with a carving of two snakes intertwined on it, looking like something he thought he’d see on a hospital’s logo. Spinning it around in his hands, he asked, “Why?”

The Chief’s voice grew impatient and overly aggressive. “Stop wasting my time!” It then grew dangerously quiet. “Do you want the girl to die?”

He sighed softly. He had to get Sherry. “… _Fine_. Where are you now?”

He could swear he heard a grin on the other man’s disgusting face. “The orphanage.”

 _The orphanage_? “Where is it?” He hadn’t been in the city for longer than 5 minutes, he didn’t know where everything was.

“In the neighbourhood. You’ll find it.”

The click of the receiver told him the Chief had hung up on him. He angrily put the receiver back on the phone-stand and grabbed the key card from the hat rack. The Chief wanted the pendant? Oh, he’d fucking get it.

***

He put the key card into the slot and waited for the shutter to open. Almost as soon as he put it in, a door to the side slammed open. The…the monster walked out, almost as if it knew exactly when he was leaving.

It would reach him long before he could roll through the shutters unarmed so he led it on a swing around the parking garage. He tried not to pump anymore lead into it. Every single damn enemy just got harder and harder to fight against and he wasn’t sure that he’d have the power to kill it anytime soon.

When the shutters were high enough, he dashed out madly. He needed an escape and if he had to enter the streets of Raccoon to do it, he’d do it.

Thankfully this street was so much more peaceful than the block he’d had to run through to get to the station in the first place. Not a single zombie in sight. One side of the road was completely blockaded with stacks of cars and Leon did not want to hear how that accident had occurred.

Instead, he ran for the other side, a giant, neon light highlighting a gun shop. If only he could get in there and get some upgrades. Too late he realised the road in front of him wasn’t there anymore. _What the fuck?_ His mind supplied, _Was there a sinkhole?_

He turned around to look for another way around and remembered the giant, hulking monster stalking him. It was bearing down on him now, seemingly knowing that its prey was trapped. His mind suddenly cleared and he knew exactly what to do. He waited for the thing to take a swing at him – he’d been knocked on his ass too many times to count – and put his training at the academy to good use, rolling right under the swing.

While the humanoid stood in shock after his attack didn’t land, Leon popped up from the roll and started running again. Almost like a stroke of fate, a once-chained shut door banged open and now, he had a way out. He shot the two zombies inside with a headshot each, staggering both of them long enough to breeze past them and up the stairs.

He continued running down that stairwell, waiting for it to let up and get him back to solid ground. If he ended up near the orphanage, well then, thank _goodness_ for Raccoon’s architecture.

He reached some stairs on the other side of the building the walkway was circling and saw another zombie. He was getting really tired of all these enemies all over the place, why couldn’t the way to Sherry just be easy?

Again, shooting it once to stagger it – he was getting pretty good at this, he thought – and jumped over a garbage bin, facing a basketball court. He was not expecting zombie dogs.

He didn’t hear the first one, and it felt like a sucker punch as he was toppled to the floor by the force of the pup. It gave him flashbacks to his old family dog; one he hadn’t seen since he’d enrolled for the academy.

In an instant, teeth flashed across his face and it took all his effort to keep the baring snarl off of his face. This was _not_ Daisy and he could slap himself for not making that distinction earlier.

It kept slobbering on him, wet, nasty zombie dog spit flung everywhere. It must have been a regular Dobermann, maybe even one straight from the police kennels. Its glassy eyes and exposed flesh broke the illusion almost immediately, though. Matilda was too far out of reach. It seemed ready to bite down on Leon’s face as soon as he let up the pressure.

Teeth flashed across his vision again and suddenly he remembered the knife sheathed across his waist. Steeling himself, he brought one hand down for the knife and just as the dog would have torn his face off, he stabbed it in the neck.

It lazily fell off of him and Leon backed up, standing up with Matilda firmly in hand. Before it could recover, he pushed two bullets into it. It keeled over and died.

Leon got the memo: he had to keep his distance or these things could rip his face off. He ran into the basketball court, using the fencing to keep the dogs well away from him. Thankfully, they only took 3 bullets each, nothing like the bullet sponges that zombies were. He ignored the pang in his heart as bullet after bullet flew into the canines.

He looked up once all the dogs were dead. Suddenly, his hands felt as heavy as lead. Matilda almost dropped from his grip before he caught it again. How long was he going to keep going like this? The rain that was pelting on him seemed never-ending. It hadn’t let up from the moment they’d entered Raccoon, he and Claire into this nightmare. What had even happened to the woman? He hoped she was still kicking somewhere. Despite their limited interactions, he trusted that she would survive.

He kept looking at the horizon, feeling like he was going to melt on the spot, when he spotted something that caught his eye. A block away, he saw a splash of paint on an otherwise regular-looking schoolhouse. Could it be?

He exited the court, with newfound vigour in his veins.

***

Leon carefully opened the doors of the orphanage. It was completely dark; the place must’ve been abandoned a while ago. He wondered for a second if the Chief had played a cheap trick on him. What if Sherry wasn’t even here?

Leon shut off that thought as soon as it crossed his mind. It would do him no good to think like that. She _had_ to be here. Besides, the Chief had sounded desperate for the pendant. As much as it pained him to think of it, it made too much sense for the Chief’s evil plan.

He entered the door behind the reception desk, fully prepared to barter the pendant for Sherry’s life. He could feel it burning through his pocket, cold to the point of heat. He kept Matilda out as a precaution. He had already been caught off-guard once. _Not again_ , he’d promised himself.

Turning a corner, he came face-to-face with the one and only Irons. Were those…burn marks? What had done that? Sherry? Before he could think further on the recently inflicted burn scars, meaty hands gripped his shoulders.

The man was mumbling something, how it was ‘all his fault’ and how he’d ‘taken too long’. Leon didn’t care enough to listen at all and shoved the man off of him. He might have put too much back into it and Irons slammed into the wall hard enough to crumple to the floor.

He watched in cold fascination as suddenly his chest ripped open and something deformed popped out. He kept staring at the corpse of his former Chief, losing sight of the parasite-looking thing, and found he didn’t care nearly as much as he would’ve in any other context.

He hurried past it into the next room. It was a wreck. Bookshelves were overturned, books littering the floor. A table was slammed into the wall and he could see…a woman’s corpse? What the actual hell? Every ounce of the already draining sympathy he had for the man was leaving his system. Scratch that, Irons was just as much a monster as what everything he’d faced in this city.

He followed the destruction all the way to a secret grate in the floor that had been haphazardly opened. It had to be the only place Sherry could have gone. He descended down the ladder, trying not to think of the Chief, or that poor, unnamed woman.

Immediately, his surroundings turned industrial, disturbingly reminding him of where he’d fought that monster. He yelled out Sherry’s name, hoping that she’d respond.

A moment later, he heard a tiny voice say back, “Leon?”

He rounded a corner and saw a metal fence, Sherry standing right behind it. He loudly gave a sigh of relief that she was fine and only relatively banged up. “Hold on, Sherry. I’ll be right there!”

Thankfully the fence itself seemed a useless defence, with only two walls. As he turned the last one to be fully reunited with Sherry, a tremendous crash reverberated through the building and Sherry let out a shrill yell. He looked to the side and all he saw was the giant trench coat of his stalker.

“Run, Sherry!” The two of them took off on a sprint through the open door next to them. Adding to his incredible anxiety, the monster’s footsteps echoed all around them.

They kept going, every step feeling like an eternity. At the end of the corridor, he spotted a lift. If they were fast enough, they would be able to outrun it.

He sprinted into the lift, slamming the button just in time for Sherry to get in. The doors closed and he could almost whoop before the monster caught up to them. It grabbed onto the lift doors and hauled them open, it’s wrinkled, grey face etching itself into his memory.

Suddenly, giant claws stabbed right through the monster, blood spattering itself across the ground. Behind it, he saw the other monster he’d fought under the police station. He watched in strange fascination as a second head emerged from its meat-sack.

He could swear he heard Sherry mutter, “Daddy?” when she saw it. Anything he wanted to say was struck out of his mind when the giant claw was struck out of the stomach, its guts breaking out and its body going slack.

It was…dead. Had it…helped them?

Without warning, it reared up and jumped onto the lift. Sherry yelled out, “Daddy, no!” but it made no difference. The sheer weight of the creature broke the lift from its chains and they ended up in a freefall. He must’ve lost consciousness as they crashed to the ground.

***

He was woken up by a shining light. A female voice ordered him, “Wake up.”

He snapped awake and his eyes were temporarily blinded by the flashlight embedding itself into his retinas. He blinked rapidly, groggily trying to get the image out of his eyes. She snapped her fingers. “Open them. Hold still.”

He obliged for a few moments until the light was finally turned off and the woman hurried off. He rolled over, stumbling up. His legs were shaky and numb, but he doubted anything had actually wounded him. There were more important things to care about here than his own injuries.

Someone. Wait a minute, where was Sherry? His head whipped around, desperately looking for her. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen. After everything at the orphanage, she’d disappeared again? What had happened to her?

He looked at the woman. She had stringy blond hair and was wearing a lab coat. She was looking around at the destruction around them, which Leon’s mind realised was probably due to that creature jumping on their lift. Sure enough, as he turned around, he saw the destroyed remains of the lift. Sherry had said something about the monster…what had she said? His head was fuzzy at best.

He limped over to the woman and asked her, “Where’s Sherry?”

She looked at him with her face scrunched up and said, “Sherry. She’s…fine.”

Thank god she knew where she was. He wasn’t going to question how she knew the kid. All that mattered was keeping Sherry safe. “Can you take me to her? Is she okay?”

The woman whipped around with her mouth clamped tight. He knew that look. She’d been reminded of something. Something that wasn’t good. She let out a shaky breath and completely changed the direction of the conversation. “We need to assess the situation. Who are you?”

He was taken aback but answered anyway. “Leon. Leon Kennedy. Now, can you help me find Sherry?”

She internalised his name but once again disregarded him once he asked about Sherry. Something was bothering her, and it was about the girl. He was getting worried. Instead of giving him an answer, she looked back at the lump of metal that used to be the lift. “I didn’t foresee this?”

He exhaled. She was not making things easy for him. “Please, ma’am, do you know where she is? We can worry about this later.”

She looked up at him and once again disregarded him when it came to Sherry. Her eyes had glazed over when she said, “I’m Annette. What happened to William?”

His eyebrows raised. Who was William? “Who is that, ma’am?”

Her eyes blazed with extreme clarity and Leon wouldn’t know that that was the clearest he’d see them until she fought William himself. “The monster responsible for all this! Tell me, what happened to him?” She put her notepad in the pocket of her lab coat and looked up, eager for new information on the threat.

“Look ma’am. I don’t know what you’re talking about. We need to get to Sherry. Do you know where she is?”

She walked off again and Leon was losing his mind. She brought the note pad back out again, knowing that Leon didn’t have the answers she wanted. She wasn’t giving him the answers he needed though.

“Where are you going?”

He was shut down promptly. “I do not have time for 20 questions. Everything is under control.” She gestured to the wreckage around her as if to prove her point.

“Ma’am, please, where is Sherry?”

She whipped around, the anger in her that was simmering finally crashing out. She threw her hands out to the side and almost yelled, “My daughter is _not_ your concern.”

She aggressively opened the door she was reaching for and slammed it behind her. The only thought was, _she’s her mother_?

***

The sewers were…he had no words to describe them. They were filthy and now he smelled like shit. But if Sherry was down here somewhere, he had to get to her. Who knew what had happened? Annette surely didn’t want to tell him anything and in Leon’s experience, that meant it wasn’t anything good.

Running through mucked-up waterways, he finally happened upon dry land once again. Opening a door, he found…a cable car? What was is doing down here? He had no way to enter it though, at least on this side of the walkway so he kept going. He climbed up a ladder into a monitor room, stumbling all three zombies inside long enough to hop down through a grate in the floor. There wasn’t another door in the room anyway.

Hopping down, he found himself in an observation room. Suddenly, he could hear Annette through some speakers. She was talking to…Sherry? Where was she?

He walked up to the giant window and gazed down upon what looked like a waste disposal unit. He heard Annette say, “Why didn’t you stay in the house? It was safe there.”

He heard a pained whimper from somewhere inside the room. His eyes zeroed in on the source of the sound and he say Sherry, wobbly and face downturned but at the very least she was alive. She sounded as if she had been crying, though, and Leon’s heart sank. “I was scared! Those things were everywhere and–”

She was cut off angrily. “You should’ve called the police! That’s what we taught you to do!”

The response was instantaneous. “I did! But…nobody came. And you didn’t answer your phone so…”

Her voice trailed off but Leon could connect the dots in his head. Annette’s voice came back in full force. Her sigh carried across the speaker system. “Sherry, I don’t have time for this!”

He heard a short click, like someone had disconnected on a phone, and he assumed it was Annette turning the intercom system off. He looked down at Sherry, who had sunk onto her knees. Something had happened to her, but what?

He put his hand on the glass to no avail and despite his cry of, “Sherry!”, the girl fell over and disappeared from sight. He sighed this time, trying to calm himself from lashing out. That wouldn’t do anyone any kind of good right now. He had to get Sherry out and find out what was wrong with her.

He looked through the room and found a huge, locked door sealing off the way into the ‘Garbage Room’. Fiddling with the door for a while, he realised he needed some plugs in the shape of chess pieces to open the door.

Only three of the plugs were in their sockets though, and obviously the most logical route to get them would be to search the whole sewer expanse, wouldn’t it? He looked at a note placed up on a bulletin board, someone asking for help on how to get the door open. One kind person had given him the answer, though in the form of a riddle.

Fine. If that was how they wanted to play, he’d play. First step: find the plugs. Second, get them in the correct order and get the door open. And finally, get Sherry out of there.

He grabbed the map hanging on the wall as he exited the room.

***

“I’ve got you now!” he yelled out as he slammed the button to bring the crane back around to slam into the monster. He’d downed it, for the second time now and his arsenal was running on empty. If he couldn’t kill it with this, he doubted he’d have the firepower to get it down another time.

It was in too much pain in even lug itself up and out of reach of the crane and once again, Leon felt no ounce of sympathy for the creature. This was the second time it’d tried to kill him. It was going to go down.

He watched as the crane swung around again and slammed into the monster with all its force. He watched as it struggled against the swinging force and failed, falling into the darkness below, bringing the shipping container down with it.

He looked around for a way out of the tiny arena and heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed the destruction caused by the falling crane highlighted a way across. He tested the debris with his feet and when he noted it felt safe, he deftly jumped across the gap and followed up the stairs at the end.

He unlocked it and realised it was the door right next to the garbage room that he couldn’t open earlier. He thanked his lucky stars. He could finally get Sherry out and to safety without any interference.

He pulled the lever on the side of the door, hands shaking. He wrung them out and ducked to look under the door for Sherry. He spotted the plaid blue shirt right away and as soon as the wall had been lifted up enough, he walked through and ran over to Sherry.

He could hear Annette’s voice again, but he wasn’t listening. He kneeled down next to Sherry. One of her eyes had scars growing from it, reminding him uncomfortably of the monster he’d knocked off the side just moments before. He heard his own name carrying across the speaker and this time, he listened. “What are you doing?”

He answered as truthfully as he felt. “I’m here to help.”

He heard a weary sigh coming from the speaker system and Annette’s voice audibly trembled as she whispered out the next few lines. “Sherry’s been implanted. She – she can’t be saved.”

He didn’t want to believe that. He could not. They were in a city filled to the brim with zombies and they couldn’t cure a single girl? He filled with an unholy anger. “What do you mean by that? Why can’t you help her, you’re her mother!”

The voice shook again. He could tell, even from this distance, that Annette was trying to pull herself together. “You, you couldn’t understand. _William_ is there out there and if I don’t stop him –”

Leon interrupted her. He never was one to interrupt but he had to get this out. Her _daughter_ was literally almost dead and all she could care about was some ‘William’? As much Leon wanted to hope there were more people to save in the city, there didn’t seem to be any. If he could at least save Sherry…Hopefully, he could swing Annette to his side of looking at things. “Are you going to help her or not? If not, I’ll figure it out myself.”

He propped up Sherry’s head with one of his hands and almost wept when she coughed feebly. That meant she was still alive and that meant they could cure her. He carefully swept her up into a bridal carry, taking care to not move her around too much in case it hurt her. As he made his way to the door purposefully, he heard Annette call out, “Wait! I…I can treat her. In my lab. It’s not far away.”

He saw Sherry wake up, blearily blinking her eyes. He heard a whisper of, “Mommy?” and apparently Annette heard it too.

He heard another weary sigh from the speaker system. She seemed to be steeling herself up for something. “There’s not enough time. Millions of lives are at stake…”

In a much softer and shakier voice than the one she’d used to address him, “Sherry…I love you. I – I have to go. Goodbye.”

He heard the click on the receiver and knew Annette had hung up. He muttered, “Damn it,” to himself before realising he was holding a literal child.

To her, he said, “I’m sorry, Sherry. I’ll help you. I’ll get you what you need, okay?”

He wasn’t expecting a response – he certainly didn’t need one – but Sherry coughed again and looked up at him through somewhat glassy eyes. She whispered and Leon had to lean in to hear her. “Why are you…helping me?” She said it as if it was something unfathomable.

“Because…because I want to. I want to help.” He didn’t have the best response, he knew. But it was the one he had. He wanted to help. Because he knew Sherry. Knew what a sweet girl she was and how she didn’t deserve to go through this. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t help. He wanted Sherry to live with every desperate and selfish bone in his body.

Sherry seemed to find the answer somewhat adequate. She smiled, despite everything she’d been put through, and said, “Thank you, Leon.”

He didn’t have a response to that. He didn’t deserve her thanks. But he would still do anything to help her. Now, where could Annette’s lab be? His mind raced. _Wait_ …the cable car, maybe?

It was worth a try. He hurried over to it, as fast as he could with Sherry in his arms.

***

He knew that pulling the lever would give him no way back. Don’t ask him how he knew that, but he just did. He would not be able to get back to the sewers or even by extension the police station anymore. He laid Sherry in the cable car and ducked back out for a quick detour.

He knew that Sherry was living on borrowed time now. At any moment, the infection could take over her. At this point, he felt like he slightly understood. That monster, whatever it was, had once been ‘William’, if Annette was anything to go off of. He’d ‘implanted’ her, whatever that even meant and if her warnings were anything to go off on, Sherry would… _turn_ into him. Into a creature like him.

He ran back up into the monitor room for a second and grabbed something off of the table. The jacket he’d been wearing when he’d entered Raccoon. Why he was still carrying it around, he didn’t know. It meant nothing to him anymore, all that mattered was getting out of here safe and sound with Sherry and Claire behind him.

He trusted Claire to get out. He hadn’t seen her in, what was it, a few hours maybe? But the evidence of her running around down here just like him was too much. A zombie he’d run past to conserve ammo suddenly dead when he backtracked. Coming from the burn marks he’d noticed on some of the mutants that he knew weren’t from his flamethrower, he could tell she could take care of herself.

Sherry didn’t have anyone to take care of her. _Except him_ , he thought. Her own mom was ready to throw her to the sharks. As far as he knew, she had no one else to turn to.

He sprinted back to the cable car. Despite the short respite, he really needed to hurry. He pulled the lever and sat next to Sherry. She was still for now, but he didn’t know when she’d wake up.

He knew she’d be uncomfortable, at the very least. Hell, he was getting uncomfortable in his own get-up. Should he take his sweatshirt off? He carefully slipped his own jacket on her, trying not to move her around too much or wake her up from her short sleep.

He hoped he could have a short period of rest and the cable car slowly trekked down into the lab. God, he was so messed up, this day had to be a nightmare. And it would’ve been if not for Sherry. Sherry who kept him going. Sherry who was sick and infected and who he had to help.

The ride was uneventful but long. How deep below the surface was this lab? He even had time to take off the damn sweatshirt.

Suddenly, Sherry writhed and groaned. He looked over at her, frightened out of his mind. Was she still okay? He kneeled down in front of her so she could still lay down and asked, “You hanging in there?”

She turned to his voice and opened her eyes again. “I…I like your jacket,” she whispered shyly. “How come I’ve never seen you wear it?”

He chuckled softly. “Well, I don’t know. I think it’s because I’ve been wearing this instead.” He gestured to his uniform.

She giggled and said, “I like what you’ve done with it.” And was she…making fun of him? Wow.

Instead of responding – he didn’t have a good enough rebut to that anyway – he reached in one of his fanny packs. He pulled out the pendant. “I have something of yours.”

Immediately Sherry’s face downturned. She turned away and Leon suddenly got the feeling he was speaking to a much older girl. “I don’t want it.”

“Why not? I thought you’d like it.” He spun it around in his hands again, once again glimpsing the two snakes intertwined and he remembered what it was called. A caduceus. At least, without the staff between the snakes.

“No. My mom…got it for my birthday. But I only really wanted her to be at home more. I’m alone a lot.” She added self-consciously.

Leon couldn’t really relate. He’d grown up in a pretty nice household where his parents certainly never doted on him but they never really ignored him either. Despite that, he kept the pendant, respecting Sherry’s wishes. He gave her a soft smile. “I’m here for you now. I’ll keep it with me if that’s what you want.”

She suddenly coughed hard and clenched her eyes tight. Almost immediately, a female robotic voice said out that they were approaching the ‘NEST’, which Leon presumed meant the lab they had to get to.

He scooped Sherry back into a bridal carry and carried her out of the cable car. He was going to get her a cure if it was the last thing he’d do.

***

He finally arrived in the West Area. This was where the anti-viral agent was going to be, according to that email. He traipsed through the empty operation rooms, uneasy at how you could find literally no zombies. Something else would be here. Something far more dangerous, he thought ominously.

At the final lab, he realised that that was where he’d get the vaccine. It was the same place the man in the video tape had been murdered at. He hurried to that side of the room, completely disregarding the giant test tubes with experimentations inside.

He banged on the cold, metal case that he knew held the anti-virus. If that lead scientist, “Dr. Birkin”, he thinks he’s called, was taking G-virus samples, then it made sense for the anti-viral agent to be in there too.

One problem though, he had no idea how to open it. He looked all over it, for a keyhole or a lock he could hopefully jimmy open but there seemed to be nothing. He looked down to see a depression in the metal. He was about to gloss over it when he realised what was carved into it.

 _Twin snakes_. He sucked in a breath, slightly unbelieving. He pulled out the pendant again and looked at it. The similarity was uncanny. The depression looked about the same size as the necklace in his hand.

Steadily, he put the pendant in the hole and laughed dizzily when a click sounded. He turned the pendant and the machine accepted it, the case flicking open. He grabbed the biggest thing inside and looked it over. ‘DEVIL’ was inscribed on a paper taped to it and he knew this was it. Why they’d named the vaccine ‘DEVIL’ he wouldn’t know but it was fine. He had to get back to Sherry and they could cure her.

He carefully placed it into one of his fanny packs. Unholstering Matilda again, he walked through the giant bioreactors room. The room was too big and it still rubbed him the wrong way, but now at least, he could get out of there.

The last few feet, he could do this, he could get to Sherry. Suddenly, the wrenching of metal caught his attention. He looked up at the roof of the domed room and he saw metal creak and spark as that monster dropped down.

 _Fuck_. He didn’t have the time for this, god damn it. Despite that, he kept Matilda on it.

“You again?”

***

He kicked past the dead corpse of ‘William’ and ran up to the elevator. He had to get back to the North Area, had to get to Sherry.

He didn’t know Annette. Didn’t know who she was more than she was Sherry’s mother. She had to have been dying. He’d heard a dangerous _crack_ as she’d been thrown into the wall. He could swear she had already been limping as he’d jumped down to face the monster.

He sprinted through the main shaft and slammed through the door next to reception. Sherry was still lying on the cot, but he noted her eyes scars were gone. Next to her, Annette was slumped over on it and he followed her example, kneeling on the floor next to the cot. Sherry’s eyes opened and she looked at him, a smile on her face.

“I knew you’d make it.” He could have fucking wept. Then, her eyes looked down towards the prone body of Annette Birkin and his eyes followed. “My mom needs help.”

He didn’t know how to, but the least he could do was try to wake her up. He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “Annette?”

Immediately, she rose back up and he could see the blood running from her lip and the various cuts and grime marring her face. She wasn’t doing well. In fact, he wasn’t sure if she was…actually going to make it.

She looked at Sherry, her eyes taking a moment to realise where she was and who she was with. She stuttered out, “Sh…Sherry…How are you?”

He could hear the quaver in her words and her heavy breathing and he knows Sherry had too. She said, “I’m okay. But you don’t look so good.”

Annette rose without answering, trying to reach out to one of the many monitors scattered around the cot. Halfway there, she fell to the ground, clutching her ribs and yelling out in pain. Her knees thudded against the metal ground and Leon hurried to help her. The monster must’ve done more to her than they could see. Sherry rose up, her voice pained and fearful. “Mommy!”

He stood awkwardly, trying to help but also not wanting to hurt her further. From her slump on the floor, she pointed up at the monitor she’d been trying to reach, breathing out, “Hey, look at the screen.”

He grabbed her by the hand and helped her stand back up when she didn’t protest. He helped steady her and then backed away again, the scientist in Annette coming back full-force. She took one look at the screen and shortly said, “Oh, thank god,” with a sigh of relief.

That could only mean one thing. “So, Sherry’s going to be alright?”

Annette nodded. “She’ll be weak for a little while but…yes. She’s free of the G-virus.”

He conducted his own sigh of relief and smiled at Sherry. She smiled back at him but sadly, she was still too focused on her mother’s injuries.

Suddenly, Annette stumbled forward, reaching out a hand to steady herself on Leon’s shoulder. Before he could reach out a hand to keep her on her legs, she spilled over back onto the floor, groaning out in pain the whole time.

Both he and Sherry kneeled on the ground next to her, both not able to say anything. As they watching in fear, Annette laid down, prone on the ground. As she turned, they saw the right side of her body. No longer covered by the lab coat, the fabric of her dress was coated in red.

Leon’s heart sank. No one could survive this much blood loss. Sherry’s looked up at him in fear, her eyes opened wide. “What happened to her?”

He didn’t want to tell her but something inside him knew he had to. “She was attacked by that monster…”

He was interrupted by Annette, breathless and whispering, but still holding onto life for now. “Don’t…Don’t worry about me.”

She reached into one of her coat pockets and pulled something out. She addressed him this time. “Take my daughter…to safety.” She put the thing in his outstretched hand and he saw it was a security chip at Admin level. That had to mean the central elevator. No other door needed that high a clearance.

She looked directly at Sherry and Leon felt he was invading a personal moment. “I’m sorry, Sherry…for everything. Your life is what’s important now.” Getting that out, Annette seemed like she was ready to die, letting out another yell of pain.

Sherry’s wide, blue eyes looked up at him pleading, “We can’t just leave her here!”

He looked at Annette sadly, knowing it wasn’t feasible. It wouldn’t help Annette, who was too far to be saved. But, still…he had to try. “Sherry’s right. We’re not -”

He was cut off this time, by an alarm sounding off. The facility shook and a female voice talked about a ‘virus being removed without authorization’, a ‘lockdown initiated’, and most troublingly, ‘a self-destruct sequence’. He and Sherry looked up in confusion, only Annette seeming to know what was going on.

He asked her, “What does that mean, what’s going on?”

Annette, at this point literally hanging onto life by a thread, choked out, “It’s the…self-destruct code…in case the G-virus leaves the building.”

She coughed painfully. She looked up at him again and her eyes cleared for a second. She grasped out for his hand and continued, “ _Please_ …save my daughter.”

With that, she let a final breath and this time, completely went limp. Sherry cried out in anguish and Leon’s heart cried out for her. He felt tiny tears threaten to overflow from his eyes. He’d fulfil Annette’s last request – he would do _anything_ to keep Sherry safe.

“Sherry. Sherry, please, look at me. We need to get out of here. We need to say goodbye to your mom. Come on.” He tried his best to ignore the pang in his chest and the waver in his words. Sherry’s tiny body had still wrapped around her mom, body wracked with sobs.

He looked at the ceiling, the whole lab shaking from the lockdown. He whispered, “Please say goodbye.” Sherry looked up and he continued, “Please, Sherry, listen…she loved you, okay? And she would want you to get out of here. We gotta get going.”

He stood up and reached out a hand for Sherry to take. She looked up at him, tear tracks marring her face. She seemed to accept that they’d need to leave. She planted a quick kiss on Annette’s cheek and grabbed onto Leon’s hand, pulling herself up.

She immediately latched onto his legs, hugging him tightly. He was taken aback for a moment, before returning the hug awkwardly from his standing position. She looked up at him, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

“Thank you, Leon. I’m so lucky to have you.” Oh fuck, now he wanted to cry. But he couldn’t right now. They had to get out of here _now_ or the whole place would fall apart.

“We can talk about that later, Sherry. We have to get out now. C’mon.” And he stretched out his hand and Sherry grabbed onto it. They walked out into the reception area and all the way to the central elevator.

***

Sherry’s voice yelled at him, “Do you think we could use that?”

He looked upon the giant, yellow train she was pointing at and nodded hopefully. “We gotta try!”

He noticed a small control room tucked in the side of the giant room and barged in. He noticed a minigun in the side but his mind was too frazzled to notice. He realised from a look he was missing something, a joint plug he’d need to start the system.

He turned back towards the door and headed up into the train. If this nightmare had taught him anything, it’d be that the keys would be in the unlikeliest of places. Why else would a plug he’d need to start the train be _in_ the train?

Sure enough, at the far end of the train car, he saw the joint plug. He went in and brought it out. A bad feeling settled in his stomach, despite the euphoria of finally getting out. He turned back to see Sherry dutifully following him.

He kneeled down to be at eye level with her and using his officer voice, said, “I need you to stay here, okay? Whatever happens, promise me you won’t leave.”

She nodded faithfully. “I promise I won’t move.”

He gave her a small smile and nodded. He got back up and started heading back to the door. As he was, Sherry piped up again. “Leon? Be careful.”

“I will be.”

He raced back into the control room, placing the plugs into their sockets. Immediately, the power turned back on, and he pulled the lever. Spotlights on the train lit up and the control room buzzed with the hum of technology.

He was about to leave – and score that sweet minigun because his mind was only now noticing he had a minigun at his disposal – when suddenly a voice he’d left back at the police station filtered through the speakers. “Leon!”

It was…Claire? She was here too? What were the odds? He looked at the staticky monitor that was now starting to display Claire, who was looking remarkably more banged up and grimy than she had a few hours ago. She’d also lost her jacket, he noted. His voice was filled with confusion. “Claire? You’re down here too?”

She looked up at something else in the foreground on her side. “Yeah, it’s a…it’s a _long_ story. Point is, this whole place is coming down.”

He let out a wry laugh. “I know. I think I’ve found a way out, though. We can all make it.” He looked up at the train, their only hope for now. He looked straight into the monitor and asked, “Where are you now?”

She shook her head at him and asked, “Leon, are you still there?”

Had she not heard him? Suddenly, the connection flared and he couldn’t see her for a moment. It must’ve been a faulty connection. “Claire? Claire! You gotta get down to the bottom level, there’s a train down here!”

He didn’t know how much of that she’d heard and how much had turned to static but she nodded resolutely. “I’ll be there. Don’t wait up.”

The connection frazzled and froze up. He could neither hear not see Claire anymore. It must’ve disconnected. He slammed the control panel table in a fit of rage, the bad feeling in him pouring out now.

As he left the room to get on the train, he picked up the minigun laying on the table. He’d need it if he could trust his emotions right now, and he’d learnt he’d have to. He walked out.

First, a female voice rang out, “7 minutes until detonation.” Shit, they didn’t have much time left.

The screeching of metal rang in his ears. The floor started shaking beneath him and it started a descent. They’d have to descend to get out of here. He had just been sinking deeper and deeper into Raccoon City. Hopefully he wouldn’t get buried in it too.

The screech from earlier continued and he looked up in anticipation. Fucking Birkin. The man just couldn’t stay dead. But where was he?

It ended in a tumultuous crash and he looked up, to see a hulking monstrosity jump right on top of the train car. _Right on top of Sherry_ , his mind supplied.

He pulled up the minigun and fired into the behemoth, his brow hardening. Birkin no longer looked like whatsoever like the man he’d seen in the VHS tape. At least in the lab, he’d still been somewhat humanoid. Now, though? He was just a fleshy mass of eyeballs vaguely shaped into a blob.

He’d put it down, for both William’s and Sherry’s sake. He rolled out of the way as it jumped off the train car onto the ground next to him.

***

“One minute until detonation.”

He hurried to the front of the train and looked at the railway ahead. They had only a minute left. They really couldn’t afford to stay here any longer. He had to keep Sherry safe, that was his number one priority. He couldn’t think of…

He pulled the lever in front of him, starting up the train. The headlights flared and it lurched under his feet. Soon, they were moving at a regular pace and heading out of the lab. He kept his eyes ahead, hopeful that maybe he’d see Claire again or something but no such luck.

He sighed and turned around to look at Sherry, who was looking around, with her eyes elsewhere. She was still sitting on the spot he’d told her to wait at, dutifully keeping her promise.

He went up to her, to at least keep his mind sane. He asked her, “How are you holding up?”

Her face fell a bit and she answered, “I’m…doing my best.” She looked up at him with innocent eyes and asked his question back to him.

“I’m…doing my best too,” he answered, at this point just parroting her. “Don’t worry, we’re going to get out of here, okay?”

She smiled up at him sweetly and nodded. “I don’t doubt it. I trust you, Leon.”

“I – thanks, Sherry.” He held out his hands for hers and said, “C’mon, let’s check out this train, there’s gotta be something else on here.”

She took his hands and got up, a smile on her face. Suddenly, the whoosh of a train car opening distracted them both. They both looked up and Leon saw Claire.

Oh, thank _fuck_! She was fine. She exclaimed, “Leon?”

“Claire!” Without meaning for it, he went to hug her and she returned it, both of them so excited to actually find a familiar face again. She was grimy and dirty, just like him. She’d lost her jacket and there was a coat of bandages wrapped around her shoulder, as if she’d been bit or shot, but that didn’t matter because she was _alive_.

They disentangled after a short while and he said, “I’m so glad you made it!”

Claire just smiled at him. “I told you we both would.”

Leon nodded. That one sentence had kept him going. “Yeah, you did.”

She finally noticed Sherry standing beside him and asked, “Who’s this? You didn’t tell me you stole a child,” she finished with a smirk.

“I didn’t – her name’s Sherry.”

Claire kneeled down and smiled at her, the both of them making their introductions. For once, Leon felt he was finally complete. They could get out of this together, all three of them.

**Author's Note:**

> i went so far with the saudade theme. anyway, there will be a second part and yes it's gonna be ada/claire and yes it will be named for a lyric in saudade. first, i need to finish kill me twice and then i'll get on it. once i do, it'll take me like two weeks. but it IS coming so stay tuned.


End file.
